In many forms of construction in particular residential building construction, wood is used to construct door frames. It is common to provide the doors themselves of composite construction. The core of the door may be wood or polyurethane foam or a combination, and in many cases an outer door covering is made of metal. Such doors can be made to standard dimensions.
However the door frames into which such doors are hung, whether of solid wood or composite construction, must be built into the fabric of the building itself. It is often found that the door frame must be adjusted to accept the standard dimensions of the door. Wood door frame components, such as were used in the past, were supplied, in many cases as a kit of components, top and side components with various trim formations. Bottom frame components or so called thresholds or door sills were also provided in many cases. These door frame components were then fitted to and attached to the building fabric. Often the use of edge fillers, wedge pieces and the like, was required to provide a door frame of the correct dimensions to accept a standard door.
This work was time consuming. In the case of outside doors, connecting between the interior of the building and the outside, when once erected the door frame exterior was finished with wood preservative, and several coats of undercoat and exterior coats of paint.
Over time, the exposure to weathering would require repainting of the wooden door frame.
Eventually the wood might deteriorate and require to be removed and replaced.
It will be understood that door frame components were also supplied for interior doors located within the building from one room to another. Interior door frames were not usually a problem since they were not exposed to the elements, and in most cases did not require weather stripping. Door frames might incorporate a stop or ledge against the door would close, or at least an additional trim might be secured to the door frame after it was erected so as to provide a stop.
It is helpful therefore to understand that in this discussion, dealing mainly with doors on the outside of a building, the use of the words “interior” and “exterior” will be confined to the direction in which the door is swung open or swung closed. The portion of the door frame on the side where the door would swing open will be referred to as the interior. The portion of the door frame which will be beyond the door stop when the door is closed will be referred to as the exterior portion of the frame.
Most door frames supplied today will incorporate an interior portion, which will be of thinner wood, and an exterior portion which will be thicker. In this way, the door frame itself is milled with a shoulder, formed by the thicker exterior portion so as to provide its own integral door stop.
It has been the practice to provide at least in the case of doors on the outside of the building, a door frame cladding of synthetic material, typically PVC material, to enclose and protect the wooden door frames components.
In some cases however, the home owner will prefer to have some of the wood frame exposed, perhaps on the interior, and sometimes on the exterior as well.
In other cases, the supplier of the wood components might wish to offer the components to builders, with various different options of cladding.
Where cladding material is used to cover the wooden door frame components, then it is also desirable to provide additional trim cladding components, of the same material as the cladding, to fit the building fabric around the door opening.
One such system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,472,519 Inventor Giovanni Cared issued Jun. 6, 2009. The system disclosed in the patent was a considerable improvement over earlier cladding systems, but still lacked the adaptability to accommodate the wishes and desires of the purchaser of the building, and also of the building designer.
In earlier systems, the door frames were simple planks, without the incorporation of the integral milled door stops. The door stop might be simply a piece of wood trim secured to the wooden core. The cladding might be applied to one of the portions of the door frame. In this system, however, the cladding was applied as an extension of the wooden core itself. The cladding in that case was intended to provide the shoulder or door stop against which the door would close. This system was not readily applicable to door frames in which the wooden core was milled so as to provide integral door stop shoulders.
Accordingly it is desirable to provide a cladding system in which various standard synthetic frame cladding components can be mass produced, typically by extrusion, and which cladding components can then be used selectively, or together, on the wood frame components depending on the wishes of the builder, or of the home owner or prospective buyer.
Preferably such a system can be adjusted to accommodate variations in the design of the doorway. Various spacer assembly components can be provided, which can be associated together to provide a door frame, which will accept a door of standard dimensions.
While reference has been made to a door frame, the invention is also applicable to building openings which will be filled with a fixed window pane or indeed the space between a doorway, and the remainder of a building fabric which may be filled with a panel of building fabric. In these cases of course it will be appreciated that there may be no need for a stop member since a window, or building panel may be fixed permanently in position. The cladding assembly system of the invention is applicable to wooden frames for enclosing such a building opening.